Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III is seeking additional funding from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) for the country’s big-ticket infrastructure projects under the Duterte administration’s “Build, Build, Build” program. The AIIB approved last year its first project in the Philippines in partnership with the World Bank.
Dominguez told executives of the financial institution the urgent need to develop the physical and digital infrastructure of emerging economies in Asia, including the Philippines, to hasten the development of a common market across the region and transform Southeast Asia into a strong base for trade.
“A dynamic regional common market will provide our economies a strong base to build competitive industries and profitably trade with the rest of the world. An emergent Southeast Asia will complement the mature economies of East Asia and the rapidly growing Indian subcontinent,” said Dominguez during the Asian Infrastructure Forum (AIF) seminar on “Advancing Together: ASEAN Infrastructure Development” held at the Experimental Theatre of the National Center for the Performing Arts in Mumbai, India.
Dominguez continued, “This arc of progress will constitute the center of gravity of the global economy, the engine of economic expansion that will help propel all other economies.”
The Philippines’ massive infrastructure buildup was made possible by the expanded support of its friends in the region as well as multilateral agencies such as the AIIB, the finance chief said.
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The AIIB has so far committed to co-finance with the World Bank the first phase of the Metro Manila Flood Management Project, which will be built to improve flood forecasting, reduce long-term flooding and modernize pumping stations and build new ones in the National Capital Region and its surrounding areas.
Among the projects that the Philippines has pitched to the AIIB for possible financing support are the Metro Manila Bus Rapid Transit System (Phase 3 from Bonifacio Global City to Ninoy Aquino International Airport), the Pasacao-Balatan Tourism Coastal Highway in Camarines Sur, and the Camarines Sur Expressway Project (San Fernando-Pili Section).
“We are hopeful that with the approval of the funding for this project, the AIIB would find it feasible to invest in other big-ticket infrastructure projects under the Duterte administration’s “Build, Build, Build” program,” Dominguez said.
